Marrying and Sponsoring a Croatian Citizen

Marriage to a Croatian citizen and spousal sponsorship to Canada under the Family Sponsorship program is a complex process.
This page is designed to guide you through your marriage to a Croatian citizen and the spousal sponsorship process.

Testimonials

Marrying in Croatia

So, you’ve been charmed. Whether it’s Croatia’s beautiful, passionate people or her breathtaking landscapes, orange rooftops, amazing cuisine, homemade wine, citrus and olive trees… whatever has your heart yearning for a Croatian wedding, you wouldn’t be the first to be enticed by her magic.

Maybe you’re dreaming of a sweet ceremony along the Dalmatian coast, maybe you want to elope and stay for the honeymoon in the gorgeous Balkan. This region has romance woven into every whisper of the sea, however, you may want to take a much longer leave from work: getting married in Croatia takes some time and preparation.

Religious ceremonies are not legally binding in Croatia, and if it is something you are interested in for your wedding, realistically your only options of faiths would be Catholic and Orthodox. Either way, you would require proof of marriage by civil ceremony first - this article will get you through the process.

Deadlines

All documents need to have been collected within 90 days of the wedding date.

All documents, translated, verified and validated have to be handed into the registry within 30-45 days of the wedding day (details below).

Passports must be valid for one year after the wedding date.

As a Canadian you can only spend 90 days within a 6-month period without a visa in Croatia. So, if possible, you might want to collect the documents before arriving here - mailing takes a long time!

And be forewarned, with just about every step of this process comes at a fee, including the gathering of vital statistics, translations, validation and verification stamps, etc. So make sure you allow some wiggle room in your budget!

If one of you is a Croatian, half the battle is won: they will only require their birth certificate and ID. For the Canadian partner, the process is a bit more complicated.

Documents required from Canada

As a Canadian marrying in Croatia, you will need:

An original of your birth certificate, issued in your country of birth.

A marriage search, to prove your current single status.

If previously married and divorced or widowed, need all the related documentation.

All the above and any related information can generally be obtained from your local registry in Canada, but prices and details may vary by province.

I would also advise that you find a registrar’s office (maticni ured) in Croatia and confirm the required documents with a registry official (maticar) in your chosen city before you leave. Make sure you write down their name and number, and ask if they can be the one to marry you once you arrive. I realize that the language barrier may be a problem, but most officials in Zagreb would be able to speak English.

(You can find a list of registries here or Google maticni ured + city of interest).

Here’s the reason: Croatia is a land of legal ‘grey areas,’ and not all offices are up to date on all the requirements. My husband and I went to two different registries, and both gave us different information about the requirements, based on their current knowledge. The process described in this article is the more extensive one, so don’t worry, it should prepare you well. But if possible, it wouldn’t hurt to double-check!

What Happens in Croatia

If you’ve got room to improvise, even if you plan to have your ceremony along the coast, I’d advise that you arrive in Zagreb first. Being the capital, it is more ‘connected’: it has more English speakers within the offices, the biggest selection of translators, more public transport, the Canadian Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are there, etc. Zagreb as a city is also a lot more organized and reliable than the Dalmatian region.

YOU MUST register yourself with the police within 48 hours of arrival. If you’re staying in a hotel or a hostel, they usually do the registration for you. If you are staying in private residence (eg. with friends or your fiancé’s family), you will have to go in yourself.

The police will then direct you to the nearest tourist office, where they register you once again and give your equivalent of a “tourist visa” – it is a piece of paper with your date of arrival and the date you are allowed to stay till. This is particularly important if you’re marrying a Croatian, as the paper trail will help you with consequent applications for extended stay, residence permits, etc.

Find an official court translator/interpretor (sudski-tumac) – no matter what language your documents are in, ALL of them (including your Statutory Declaration) will need to be translated into Croatian before you bring them into the registrar’s office. Here is one list of English-Croatian court interpreters from the US embassy, but you may also try to Google others. It will be the easiest to find English-Croatian translators, but if your documents are in any other languages, you should be able to contact any interpreter and ask them for leads.

If neither you nor your partner speak Croatian, and you haven’t made any English-speaking Croatian friends, you may be able to hire your interpreter to come along to the maticar with you (details below). You will also need a court translator to be present at your wedding ceremony, so make sure you develop a good relationship with yours!

If you haven’t already, find a registrar’s office (maticni ured). Contact an official (maticar) who would be able to marry you, and set up an appointment to meet with them. A lot of the officials in Zagreb will be able to speak English, but that might be less common along the coast.

Give them your intended wedding date, confirm they would be available to marry you within the time period.

Explain the time crunch – if your documents are taking too long, or you’re already overstaying your tourist Visa’s welcome, talk to them about it very nicely. Sometimes they’re able to shorten the 30-45 day waiting period for document processing, but it is at their discretion.

After all the above is in order (you’ve collected your documents, translated them, & confirmed everything with a maticar) you are ready to visit two offices in Zagreb: the Canadian Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

If you are travelling to Zagreb just for that and would like to have it all done in one day, make sure you call both offices and confirm that the people you need will be there. Their office hours are pretty short, so get there early.

ALL the documents you have gathered from Canada need to be stamped and verified by the Embassy.

Note that the embassy stamps the originals of your Canadian documents, not their copies or translations.

Your Statutory Declaration will be sworn in, signed and dated at the office.

Croatia requires a Certificate of Non-Impediment issued by your respective Embassy of. Essentially it’s a statement on behalf of your country, saying that as far as your government is concerned, there are no impediments to you getting married. Unfortunately Canada does not issue those, but the Embassy in Zagreb will issue an equivalent: the Certificate in Lieu of Non-Impediment.

At this point you should have a total of 3 documents to prove that you are single: marital search (+ divorce documents if applicable), statutory declaration, & certificate in lieu of non-impediment.

At this office all your documents are validated and accepted by Croatia as legal.

Everything that just got stamped at the Canadian Embassy gets a second stamp here.

Since you will have just received the Certificate in Lieu of Non-Impediment at the Canadian Embassy, it will still be in English. You do NOT have to translate it to get stamped at this office, but you will have to translate it before you take it to the maticar.

At this point

ALL of your documents should be gathered, translated, and stamped twice

(don’t forget to translate the Certificate in Lieu of Non-Impediment)!

Now you are ready to call up your

>maticar

and bring in your documents for review!

Ideally this happens within 30-45 days of the wedding day.

Once your documents are reviewed, the maticar calls you to set up a date for the civil ceremony.

On the date of your civil ceremony, you will need:

Your passports (make sure they are still valid for one year as of this date)

Two witnesses

If neither of you speaks Croatian, you will need a court translator (mare sure to book one!)

Three days after the civil ceremony, your vital statistics will be sent in and your marriage documents will be on their way!

And just like that, all the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve put into the process will all be worth it.

Calling Croatia from Canada

The country code is 385 so to call you dial 011 – 385 – area code – local number

Area Codes of Major Centres:

Bjelovar

43

Pazin

52

Solin

21

Cakovec

40

Petrinja

44

Split

21

Dakovo

31

Pozega

34

Varazdin

42

Dubrovnik

20

Pula

52

Velika Gorica

1

Gospic

53

Rijeka

51

Vinkovci

32

Karlovac

47

Samobor

1

Virovitica

33

Koprivnica

48

Sesvete

1

Vukovar

32

Krapina

49

Sibenik

22

Zadar

23

Metkovic

20

Sisak

44

Zagreb

1

Osijek

31

Slavonski Brod

35

Zapresic

1

Calling Canada from Croatia

Dial 00 - 1 - area code - local number

List of Area Codes in Canada

Province

Code

Province

Code

Alberta

403 / 587 (southern Alberta)

587 / 780 (central and northern Alberta)

Nunavut

867

BC

236 / 250 / 778 (majority of BC)

236 / 604 / 778 (Metro Vancouver)

Ontario

226 / 519 (southwestern Ontario)

249 / 705 (northeastern Ontario)

289 / 365 / 905 (Greater Toronto Area)

343 / 613 (eastern Ontario)

416 / 647 (Toronto)

807 (northwestern Ontario)

Manitoba

204 / 431

PEI

782 / 902

New Brunswick

506

Quebec

418 / 581 (eastern Quebec)

438 / 514 (Montreal)

450 / 579 (Greater Montreal)

819 / 873 (remainder of Quebec)

Newfoundland and Labrador

709

Saskatchewan

306 / 639

Northwest Territories

867

Yukon

867

Nova Scotia

782 / 902

Time Difference

Croatia is on Central European Time (GMT+1). They do practice Daylight Saving Time, so the time difference isn't different during the summer (except with Saskatchewan, which does not practice DST). However, there is a slight difference for one week in March and one week in October when Croatia is ahead one hour less.